There is a pair of survey questions that every decision-maker considering international recruitment should be familiar with—and that applies to both groups. In 2024, the Bertelsmann Foundation surveyed two groups of decision-makers: 500 companies facing labor shortages that do not employ foreign skilled workers, asking them why they do not do so. And 501 companies that do hire foreign professionals were asked about the problems they actually encountered. A direct comparison of the two lists is the most honest fact-check available on this topic: It shows in black and white which concerns are confirmed by reality, which are significantly downplayed—and which are exaggerated. Both surveys were conducted in parallel in June 2024 among decision-makers at companies with more than ten employees—same institute, same time period, same methodology. There’s no better way to compare expectations and reality. This article presents both lists side by side and draws practical conclusions.
The Concerns: Why Companies Don’t Recruit Internationally
The reasons cited by employers who do not recruit, ranked by frequency of mention (Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2024): At the top of the list, with 63.5 percent, are language barriers. This is followed by applicants’ misconceptions at 45.3 percent, the difficulty of assessing qualifications at 40.8 percent, the belief that there are enough domestic skilled workers, bureaucratic hurdles at 22.1 percent, a lack of resources at 19.8 percent, and legal hurdles at 12.7 percent. Just under two-thirds, therefore, fail at the very first stage due to language barriers—long before any interview with a candidate has even taken place.
What is striking about this list, first of all, is what it does not include: reservations about the people themselves play virtually no role. The concerns are entirely practical in nature—language, predictability, and effort. That is good news, because practical problems generally have practical solutions. The only question is which of these concerns are borne out by reality. The order is also striking: the soft factors—language, perceptions, predictability—rank far ahead of the hard ones, such as the law and bureaucracy. Companies, then, fear above all that which they cannot grasp. Whether this fear is justified is revealed by the second list.
A Reality Check: What Recruiters Actually Experience
Now for the second list—the same survey, but this time asking companies that employ foreign professionals about problems they’ve actually encountered: 50.6 percent cited language barriers, 40.7 percent cited bureaucratic hurdles, misconceptions on the part of applicants 31.1 percent, recognition of foreign professional qualifications 29.7 percent, assessment of qualifications 28.6 percent, legal hurdles 19.4 percent, and problems with family reunification 4.5 percent. Incidentally, recognition appears here as a separate item that non-recruiters hadn’t even considered—a clear indication that the real hurdles only become apparent in practice.
And then there’s another figure that doesn’t appear on any list of concerns: 24.6 percent of companies that have recruited report that none of these problems have occurred. One in four companies that took the plunge simply didn’t experience any of the difficulties they feared. This figure belongs in every discussion on the topic, because it quantifies something that is systematically missing from lists of concerns: the likelihood that it will simply work out. No reputable provider will make a promise based on this—but as a counterbalance to the list of concerns, this figure deserves a permanent place in the discussion.
What the comparison shows — in both directions
Plain language means stating both findings. First: The greatest concern is real, but less significant than feared. Language tops both lists—yet the figure drops from 63.5 percent (fear) to 50.6 percent (experience). The concern is justified, but its magnitude is not entirely so. The mechanism behind this is plausible: Recruiters prepare—language courses, clear deployment planning based on language proficiency, and patience during the first few weeks. Fear is unaware of these tools, but practice makes use of them. Concerns regarding assessments shrink even more significantly: The difficulty in assessing qualifications drops from 40.8 to 28.6 percent, and applicants’ misconceptions from 45.3 to 31.1 percent. Those who actually do it experience these problems far less frequently than those who avoid them out of fear.
Second, and this is the uncomfortable part: bureaucracy is underestimated. Only 22.1 percent of non-recruiters cite it as an obstacle—but 40.7 percent of recruiters experience it as a problem, which is nearly double what one might expect. Legal hurdles, too, are rising from a mere concern (12.7 percent) to a real experience (19.4 percent). The reality of international recruitment is therefore not more difficult than expected, but difficult in a different way than expected: less so in terms of people, and more so in terms of the process. This aligns exactly with our practical experience—and it fundamentally changes how one should prepare: Those who focus primarily on the interpersonal side are preparing for the lesser problem.
Which Concerns Are Justified — and What Helps in Each Case
This provides an honest answer to each of the major concerns. Language: a valid concern, but one that can be resolved—through language preparation in the country of origin starting as soon as the contract is signed, so that the months of study run parallel to the process rather than after entry. The assessment of qualifications: overestimated—and manageable through on-site professional examinations rather than a review of documents; as for formal certainty, the recognition process—with its success rate of around 97 percent—provides official proof that foreign qualifications meet German standards far more often than feared, as our article on professional recognition shows. Applicants’ misconceptions: real, but avoidable through their own actions—by managing expectations honestly before arrival rather than through embellished recruitment pitches. Those who realistically describe work, housing, and daily life in Germany do not set applicants up for disappointment.
Bureaucracy: underestimated and to be taken seriously—the effective solution is structure: parallel processes, complete documentation, clear responsibilities, and realistic timelines, as described in our article on the duration of international recruitment. And the lack of resources: the most honest concern of all—a company without an HR department can hardly manage this process on the side. This is exactly why the success-based partnership model exists: The necessary structure—on-site selection, language coordination, process management, and support—is outsourced rather than built in-house, and payment is made only upon successful completion. This way, the resource concern becomes not an excuse, but a clear “make-or-buy” decision.
The Concern Behind the Concerns
The fourth most common reason remains: 23.9 percent of non-recruiters state that there are enough domestic skilled workers. This assessment deserves the most rigorous fact-check, and the result is brief: In the hospitality industry, a job opening remains unfilled for an average of 198 days; across all industries, the figure is 165 days (Federal Employment Agency, 2026). Anyone who finds enough domestic applicants in this market is a lucky exception—for everyone else, this reason is not a finding but a hope. And hope is not a human resources strategy. However, another interpretation is plausible: Behind this reasoning often lies not so much the conviction that the market is saturated as the understandable preference for the familiar path. That, too, is legitimate—but then the decision should be honestly described as such and not presented as a market analysis.
Taking concerns seriously means: building a process
The survey allows for a sober conclusion. The concerns of non-recruiters are not figments of the imagination—they are an accurate list, albeit with some misweighted factors. Language and expectation management are less of an issue than expected, bureaucracy is a bigger issue than expected, and one in four recruiters experiences no problems at all. Those who take their concerns seriously do not conclude that they should give up—but rather that they should approach the process in a structured way: with early language preparation, on-site technical assessments, honest communication, and a process that treats bureaucracy as a project rather than a surprise. Ultimately, the two lists also reveal something about the difference between the groups themselves: one group knows the topic only from theory, the other from real-world experience—and the reality turns out to be less daunting, with one exception that can be managed. Our article on the seven mistakes in international recruitment shows which pitfalls to avoid.
Sources: Bertelsmann Foundation (Reasons Against Recruiting Foreign Skilled Workers 2024; Challenges in Recruiting Foreign Skilled Workers 2024 — Civey Surveys); Federal Employment Agency (Time to Fill Vacancies 2026); Federal Statistical Office (Recognition Procedures 2024).
